Google Play’s latest security change may break many Android apps for some power users. The Play Integrity API uses hardware-backed signals that are trickier for rooted devices and custom ROMs to pass.
Google Play’s latest security change may break many Android apps for some power users. The Play Integrity API uses hardware-backed signals that are trickier for rooted devices and custom ROMs to pass.
Google's Play Integrity API is making it harder for users with rooted phones or custom ROMs to access certain apps. Here's what's changing.
This trend of being actively hostile toward your user base is so confusing to me.
They project that they'll make more money by forcing people to accept surveillance so they can run their apps, even if they lose a few users and app developers by doing so.
I've always been of the opinion that apps are almost always useless because there is usually a way to do it through a web browser and if there isn't I don't need it. And its usually better because then I have more control (in firefox anyway).
For example the youtube app is entirely unuseable but if I open firefox and use ublock and no script then suddenly I can actually use the website.
Is users stop using custom ROMs, Google loses nothing.
That´s standard enshittification. They know they´ve got users locked in without any alternative.
It would be confusing if everyone didn't simply tolerate it.
It’s so confusing it only makes sense to business majors. /s
Google’s updated Play Integrity API
How can these people talk about "integrity" when they break real existing phones?
I call this the opposite of integrity.
Bit hyperbolic, don't you think? Rooted/Custom ROM users are so tiny, and they typically use security vulnerabilities to obtain root access. It's not exactly surprising that Google closes those vulnerabilities when it can.
Google can't exactly make root access and custom ROMs easier to use in 2025. It isn't 2010 anymore - as soon as rooting becomes easy again, and people are bypassing security measures you know the big orgs, copyright holders and children's apps will complain to the media and suddenly Google has a shitstorm to deal with.
Just wait until they find another vulnerability, lol.
Rooted/Custom ROM users are so tiny,
That's what I told her to tell you.
Many devices, including Google's own Pixel devices have user-unlockable bootloaders. No security vulnerabilities are involved in the process of gaining root access or installing a third-party Android distribution on those devices.
What's going on here isn't patching a vulnerability, but tightening remote attestation, a means by which a device can prove to a third party app that it is not modified. They're selling it as "integrity" or proof that a device is "genuine", but I see it as an invasion of user privacy.
Google can’t exactly make root access and custom ROMs easier to use in 2025.
Sure they can. They're in a much stronger position to dictate terms to app developers than they were in 2010 when it was not yet clear there would be an Android/iOS duopoly.
They don't want to though, because their remote attestation scheme means they can force OEMs to only bundle Google-approved Android builds that steer people to use Google services that make money for Google, and charge those OEMs licensing fees. A phone that doesn't pass attestation isn't commercially viable because enough important apps (often banking apps) use it.
Or is it rather your definition of security or vulnerability that is questionable.
Many people use LineageOS and GraphineOS for security, privacy, and features that base Android simply doesn't ship.
The fuck did you just call me? Ill have you know im actually HUGE
EU Antitrust when?
Nothing anti-trust about genuine un-rooted and un-modified devices having secure access to the play store.
It's when you lock out phones that come from Huawei/Oppo etc. because they are Chinese, that you might be able to make a point.Google using market power to push "trust" technology bound to their Play Services (which is one of the requirements for their "Android" certificate).
It absolutely is, forcing people to use one OS on their device is insane. Fuck Google, they can take my GraphineOS Pixel 9 from my cold dead hands.
It is when the play store is not the only store allowed on devices. Their play services, with this change, are again acting as a monopoly, and again will be again be sued by the eu for violating anti trust laws.
on devices running Android 13 or later.
Sounds easy then: stay on the latest Lineage that does not incorporate A13.
While I wouldn’t say Google is actively hostile towards these power users,
Author is obviously sold out. Are they even trustable?
on devices running Android 13 or later.
Sounds easy then: stay on the latest Lineage that does not incorporate A13.
This isn't viable. You can't run an older android version than a device ships with and eventually older hardware will become obsolete enough that it won't be able to connect to current gen mobile networks.
For now, sure, you can run android 12 on an older device and bypass integrity easily, but sooner or later that won't be viable.
That's true of anything in technology (that is not designed to last; see: typewritrs and radio still work), so not really a variable. By that poiont you'll either have a dedicated "updated" phone for current-gen slop, or have shifted over to a more private stack, or even have gone fully off-grid.
Fuck Google Play
If I don't have Play Integrity spoofed, my iPhone friends get an error when they try to RCS message me. This pretty much breaks communication for me.
This is the future of the Big Tech Internet if we're not careful. Attestation to be able to use communications and other websites.
I have zero problems with this on Lineage. ?? No spoofing either, just Lineage.
Okay? Like, ive been rawdogging this no Google GrapheneOS thing for 2 Years now, and Ive Bad not a single Problem until now
Same. The vast majority of my apps are from F-Droid or directly from the dev, and only a handful are from Google Play, and those are all on a separate profile. There's only 2 or 3 I actually need, and I can probably work around those.
Screw you Google, my next phone will probably be a Linux phone so I don't need to deal with this crap anymore.
I ain't clicking on an android authority article. Does anyone know if/how this would effect Graphene?
This seems like it'll break things like revanced, which honestly makes me sad mostly for Duolingo :(
Really hope folks find a way of spoofing this too. I'm hoping to switch to a custom ROM in the future and this doesn't bode super well
At this point I'm leaving a paper trail in my comments. Sigh, I'll keep it short and sweet.
If you're using ReVanced to hack and get through Duolingo, then I think you should just drop the service. There are countless free resources out there that do a better job, and aren't predatory or make you hate learning. Duolingo is good for beginners and about a month or two of learning. Please let that app go, especially since the CEO thinks AI is a suitable replacement for the education system...
At some point I will but I'm not currently ready to make that transition. My friend and I are using Duolingo together and the social aspect plus the familiarity of the structure have been really helpful
They walked back the ai thing (at least that's my understanding about it, I think there was a statement about it, not that that means much) but it's very clear it wont be something that's likely to work for me long term
But for the time being the structure that it provides and its format has helped me build a routine and actually stay pretty consistent, and I don't think I'm at a place yet where I can transition away from it
But I have checked out the Foss options and there were some neat supplemental tools on f-droid, and at some point I'll go through the play store and try out direct alternatives
RIP banking apps and Mc Donalds on GrapheneOS
The reason I felt forced to iOS. No more choice. No more GrapheneOS or CalyxOS for me. Or at least that would make my life very difficult. National ID authentication, banking apps had stopped working.
GG Google. Destroy what made Android.
Wasn't this on Pixels already?